Sitting down with Northern Kentucky-based
Punk rockers The Nothing on May the 4th (Star Wars Day for the
non-geeks in the audience) felt like fate. The members of the band
(vocalist Jimi Caudill, guitarist Paulie Burgio, drummer Eric Robinson
and bassist Dan Snow) have all had a Jedi-esque journey of redemption
littered with band transitions, relationship implosions, addiction and
other trials.

And like Luke Skywalker, the band managed
to come out the other side a little darker and battle-hardened, but
with a ton of wisdom.

Caudill, Robinson and Burgio came
together as The Nothing after two local acts they were involved in, The
Reanimated and Switchblade Syndicate, either dissolved or relocated
(Snow joined the trio later). Both former bands had their own
distinctive niches and sounds, which The Nothing had no intentions of
following.

“We can do what we want; no one gets to judge us. No limits,” Caudill says.

Following their dictum, the members have
blended not only elements from their old bands, but also tossed elements
of everything from Doo Wop to Death Metal into the mix. The decision to
include so many styles was only natural.

“It’s what we’re all into,” Robinson
says. “Playing with The Reanimated … it was awesome and it’s a huge part
of our lives but you’re confined with what you can do. We were adamant
about not setting limits.”

The result is The Art of Revenge,
an 11-track chunk of just about every loud and angry genre imaginable.

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The Nothing wears its passion on its sleeves and its inspirations on its
chest, literally. Venom, Motörhead and GBH are just a handful of the
patches that adorn members’ battle vests, typifying the range that The
Nothing is trying to infuse into their recordings.

But hellacious music is nothing without
equally rowdy lyrics and that responsibility falls on Caudill’s
shoulders. As a longtime vocalist for many different projects, Caudill
has written about everything from space aliens to murderous Plymouths.

But, with The Nothing, he’s exploring the darkest subject of all: real life.

“Everybody knows that I had a cocaine
problem. And getting sober and going to rehab — I wrote the start of
Nothing stuff while I was in rehab, but at that time I thought I was
going to use it for Reanimated,” Caudill says. “It got to the point
where I was just getting really frustrated and I’ve always wanted, since
I got sober, to write personal things. I want to write about being in
jail and doing drugs, doing drugs on the street because you’re afraid to
come home, robbing people to buy more drugs. I want to bring it to
light; I want to talk about it. This album should be like ‘Street Life
101,’ because this is all our stories.”

These stories spawned songs like “The
River,” about an internal conflict that produces what Robinson claims
“is more horror than anything you’ll ever hear” in any Horror Punk
band’s library.

Even with such dark lyricism, The Nothing
takes great care to foster and celebrate the brotherhood and loyalty
found in its local scene.

“It’s something we’ve been pushing for.
The pack mentality is we want to create an atmosphere where bands stop
competing and start joining up and joining forces, like a Justice
League,” Caudill says.

“I want camaraderie; I want to be around
my friends. I want to be around people who get it. I don’t care if I’m
playing in a goddamn sewer or I’m playing in U.S. Bank Arena. I don’t
care. I’m not bigger than that,” Robinson adds.

The Nothing has been playing for less than a year and they’re already hard at work writing a follow-up to The Art of Revenge. The band tries to play any show it can to a crowd that packs any venue, any night.

The members are relentlessly pushing
forward, focusing on their credos of honesty and taking risks. Judging
by the success they’ve already achieved and the progress they’ve made to
build upon it, it’s probably safe to say that the Punk Rock Force is
definitely with this group.